Стюарт Вудс - Foul Play

“Why didn’t you ask her?”

“I did, and she said she wanted to fix him up for a blind date with a friend of hers.”

“Who’s the friend?”

“She didn’t say.”

“That’s unlike Brooke. She always says. Tell me again why you’re calling me at bedtime?”

“I want to know why Brooke wants to know how to find Shep.”

“How should I know?”

“Well, you know Brooke better than I.”

Viv gave a low laugh. “I hardly think so. Now, come on, Stone. What’s this about? I’m getting sleepy.”

“Why does Brooke want to know where Shep is?”

“I have no fucking idea! Now can I go to bed?”

“All right. Just don’t tell Brooke where Shep is.”

“I would never tell her. Dino has sworn me to secrecy. Now good night!”

“Good morning,” Stone replied.

“What?”

“It’s morning here.”

“Where are you?”

“In New York.”

“Well, it would be, wouldn’t it! Good night!!!” She hung up.

Stone reflected on the morning’s conversations, at home and abroad. He concluded that they had been fruitless. The only good thing about them was that Brooke still didn’t know where Shep was. On the other hand, he still didn’t know why she wanted to know Shep’s whereabouts.

It was a wash, sort of. He’d have to think of something else.

While Stone was still trying to figure out what Brooke wanted, and why, his phone buzzed.

“An anonymous caller for you on line three,” Joan said.

“Who is it?” Stone asked.

“It’s anonymous. That means he doesn’t want you, or maybe me, to know who he is.”

“Do we know why he wants to talk to me?”

“He just said you would be interested to hear from him.”

“And why is he calling on line three? Isn’t that an unpublished number?”

“Yes, but somehow he found it.”

“What are my choices here?”

“You can answer it, or I can tell him to go away.”

“He could be an important client.”

“Yes.”

“Or it could be a spam caller.”

“Could be. The only way we can know for sure is for you to speak to him.”

“Oh, all right.” Stone pressed the button for line three. “Hello?”

“Is this Stone Barrington?”

“Who were you trying to call?”

“Stone Barrington. Stone, is that you?”

“That depends on who you are.”

“Let me put it this way: I’m calling from an undisclosed location, and I’m trying to be careful, lest I be overheard.”

“Do you have a view of the sea?”

“Yes.”

“Shep?”

“Yes! I thought you were going to hang up on me.”

“I nearly did. How did you get this phone number?”

“I didn’t want to call on a line where we might be overheard, and I figured that you had more than one line, and that the numbers were sequential. I called number three.”

“Ah! Something this morning finally makes sense.”

“Has it been a confusing morning?”

“Don’t get me started. How are you, Shep?”

“Very well, thanks. May we talk freely on this line?”

“Yes, we may. Is everything all right where you are?”

“Yes. Well, maybe. The phone here keeps ringing, and I’m afraid to answer it because nobody has the number.”

“I have the number.”

“Yes, but I was afraid to assume that it was you, so I didn’t answer.”

“That was a good move, since I didn’t call you.”

“Should I hang up, then?”

“No, I want to talk to you.”

“Is it safe?”

“Yes, the gentlemen from your security firm would have checked out everything.”

“Then what do you want to talk to me about?” Shep asked.

“Do you remember Brooke Alley?”

“Man, do I! I still have dreams about that cleavage.”

“Can you think of any reason why she should want to contact you?”

“No. Does she want to contact me? Maybe I made the wrong decision when I handed her off to you.”

“No, that was a good decision.”

“Oh, I’m glad. Things worked out, did they?”

“Sort of. She’s been asking where you are.”

“For what purpose?”

“I don’t know. She wouldn’t say. It’s possible, of course, that she didn’t want to contact you, just that she wanted to know where you were. I thought she might be asking your location at the behest of another party.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. That’s what doesn’t make any sense. Who would she know that wants to know where you are?”

“Beats me,” Shep said.

“Do you want her to know where you are?”

“I’ll follow your advice on that one, Stone.”

“Good. I’d rather she didn’t know, so I’ll go on refusing to tell her.”

“That’s fine by me. Unless...”

“Unless what?”

“Unless she has, well, ulterior motives. You know what I mean?”

“You mean, she might want to get you in the sack?”

“That’s a possible motive,” Shep admitted. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“The first time a woman had ulterior motives?”

“Well, yes. After all, you told me that once word got around about my wealth, women would come out of the woodwork.”

“Ah, something I forgot: Brooke said that she wants to fix you up with a friend of hers.”

“Who?”

“She didn’t say. Do you want me to explore this on your behalf?”

“I think that would be a good idea. After all, having been alone with Dad for a while occasionally makes my mind drift to more... interesting subjects.”

“We’ll have to find some way of effecting a meeting without disclosing your location.”

“Yes, that could be tricky, no?”

“Yes. I’ll call Brooke and feel her out, so to speak.”

“Good. Feel her out for me, too, will you?”

“I’ll get back to you on this number,” Stone said.

“I’ll look forward to hearing from you. And Brooke.”

“Then I’ll see what I can do,” Stone said.

They both hung up.

Stone thought about how to handle this and came up dry. He called Dino.

“Bacchetti.”

“It’s Stone.”

“Did you reach my wife?”

“I did.”

“Did she send her undying love and affection?”

“No, she didn’t. She was a little grumpy.”

“About what?”

“She wanted to go to sleep, and I interrupted her attempt.”

“One thing you need to know about Viv. If you want something from her, you don’t want to piss her off.”

“I think that’s a policy that should be put into general use where women are concerned.”

“Why did you call me?”

“I can’t remember.”

Dino hung up, and it took Stone a minute to remember why he had called.

Stone called Brooke.

“Hello?”

“It’s Stone. Do you still want to contact Shep?”

“I do.”

“Give me your reason again.”

“I’d like to fix him up with a girlfriend of mine.”

“And what is her name?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because Shep is in a high-security situation, and anyone he communicates with has to be investigated first.”

“Investigated for what?”

“I can’t be specific. Let’s just say for nefarious activities.”

“Give me an example of a nefarious activity.”

“Any activity conducted for nefarious reasons.”

“And what does ‘nefarious’ mean?”

“What it sounds like.”

“That’s not good enough.”

“Then look it up,” Stone said. “You have a dictionary on your phone, don’t you?”

“Hang on a minute.” She came back a moment later. “None of my friends are nefarious.”